Diamond Eyes is the sixth studio album by the American alternative metal band Deftones, released on May 4, 2010, by Reprise Records.

An album tentatively titled Eros was originally intended to be the band's sixth full-length release following Saturday Night Wrist (2006), but was not finished due to Cheng entering a coma after a serious car accident that occurred in November 2008, eventually resulting in his death in 2013.

[3] However, bassist Chi Cheng was seriously injured in an automobile accident in November 2008, leaving him in a coma and putting the release of Eros on hold.

[5] In June 2009, Deftones decided to indefinitely put the release of Eros on hold and start writing a brand new album with Vega.

[6] The band still hopes to release Eros at some point, but wanted to wait until Cheng was no longer in a semi-conscious state, and they did not feel that it represented who they were as artists or as people at the time.

[9] Diamond Eyes was recorded in two months with producer Nick Raskulinecz, who had previously worked with Foo Fighters, Velvet Revolver, Stone Sour and Alice in Chains.

Instead, they favored writing songs together as a band and practicing them "a million times 'til they were perfect" in order to achieve a more raw and "personable" sound.

[22] Noticeably lacking on the album were songs about complaining, hurting or how "life sucks" – common lyrical themes for Moreno since the early '90s.

[9][23] The lyrics for "Rocket Skates" contained "beautiful yet violent imagery" and were compared to the song "Knife Prty" from White Pony.

Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic wrote, "Naturally, there is quite a bit of roiling darkness here -- they're Cure-loving metalheads, it's in their blood -- but there's shade and light, control of texture, with the band deepening rather than expanding.

[26] BBC writer Mike Diver was also impressed, and opined that the album "knocks every pretender to the band's throne into the middle of next week".

[37] BLARE Magazine's Joshua Khan observed "Deftones give birth to a refined sound that makes creations like 'Prince' and '976-Evil' enslaving.

"[38] The Skinny's Mark Shukla likewise explained, "The first four tracks set a blistering pace as churning riffs transition relentlessly into fret-burning breakdowns; all the while Chino Moreno deploying his wounded croon and lacerating howl with an intensity that remains impressively undiminished.

"[39] Sputnikmusic staff writer Nick Greer gave an unequivocally positive review and called the album "better than White Pony".

[46] As of October 2012, the album had sold approximately 236,000 copies in the U.S.[47] All tracks are written by Deftones[48]Diamond Eyes personnel according to CD liner notes.